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Many years ago I ran a mobile catering 'caravan' from a lay bye on the A55. I say I ran one. I did it for exactly 6 days. I broke even until the 6th day, a bank holiday Monday. My profits soared. I went to the pub to celebrate. I met an old friend. I got very drunk and my friend kindly took me back to the caravan to sleep it off. Thanks Ron.
I awoke next morning with about £3 in my pocket. Not enough to buy that day’s stock for the business, and barely enough in petrol to get the whole shebang home. Towing a fairly old, battered and heavy caravan with a knackered old red Cortina is not a good image for business. Especially if it runs out of fuel on the A55 and one is not in the RAC, or anything.
Today, food regulations are more seriously enforced, as is the policing of mobile catering vans by the local council. I wouldn't even consider such a half baked venture today where food is concerned because, in the many years that have passed since I last made 'a bacon beauty' for a trucker, we've all become more aware of food issues, and the importance of preventing illness, and the spreading of disease.
Thanks to mad cow disease, swine flu, a muscle-wasting disease , AIDS, The Bernard Matthews bird flu outbreak, E. coli, staphylococcus or streptococcus bacteria and all the other nasty organisms that seek to attack and occupy the human body, we have been subject to very high profiling of health concerns by the media and government for some years now.
There is no way on this earth that anyone should get away with running food premises of any kind for long in the UK without first getting a visit from either the licensing authority or the department of health at some point. But more likely will it be as the result of a complaint made by a member of the public?
The public today is more inclined and has the absolute right to demand a healthy and clean, registered/licensed service from any food outlet where they choose to eat, and they will drop a restaurant or mobile van right in the do do, if they smell a rat. Hell, your nearest competitor might be the one to blow the whistle on your dodgy kettle doings, if you suddenly set up your mobile tea and burger van in their territory... The fines are steep, and complete irresponsibility will go imprisoned. It's too risky, both to yourself and the public health to faff around with these things today.
MOBILE CATERING - How to do it legally
So how does one apply to run a mobile catering business and what are the regulations? I decided to find out, and my research took me quickly to the Flintshire County Council web site. It's a link I wanted to share with others who may be asking the same question.
You can apply for a license online and sign up to the Welsh Assembly Government Gateway business help and information site all from this link and the application for a license is free. Be aware that the regulations regarding premises that store, prepare, distribute or sell food on premises are no longer a UK Government concern specifically since it is regulated and policed under the EC Regulation 852/2004 (Food Premises).
My only hope is that Flintshire Council doesn’t change where this web site page is without offering a redirection to it, because it contains some very good links for anyone thinking of starting a restaurant, cafe, hotel, shop, canteen, market stall, mobile catering van or food delivery vans.
"A lot of confusion over where you are allowed to legally trade is often experienced by many individuals who plan to start up mobile catering. Unfortunately many individuals are under the impression that they can park their catering trailers wherever they like and start trading. The reality is that with all the regulations and roadside trading laws those individuals often find themselves on the wrong side of the law, in dispute with their local council and in extreme cases legal proceedings been taken against them to prevent them parking and trading on the roadside or in a lay-by".
http://www.villagefetes.co.uk/startup/mobilecatering/regulations/regulations4a.htm
UK catering business run from home, mobile or temporary? The most important regulations are...
http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/startingup.pdf (pdf file download).
Last changed: Feb 05 2010 at 1:11 PM
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